Regulations and MSDS<\/b><\/p>\n
Entering into the world of nanotechnology provides numerous surprises.\u00a0 In our last blog, we provided an overview of the four pillars of Nano-Safety.\u00a0 This week will be about material properties, but from a regulatory perspective.\u00a0 There are many concerns by regulatory agencies regarding the effect of nanomaterials on both people and the environment.\u00a0 Rules are passed and orders issued that researchers and companies need to follow.\u00a0 While the details below are from a few years back, they indicate the potential impact of regulations.\u00a0 The first case demonstrates how different organizations within a Government Agency can issue conflicting directions.<\/p>\n
Manufacturers of nanoengineered products are getting frustrated by the uncertainties about the regulatory definitions of chemicals, materials, and products made with nanotechnologies.\u00a0 In 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) came out with its definition of a “nanoscale material”: “an ingredient that contains particles that have been intentionally produced to have at least one dimension that measures between approximately 1 and 100 nanometers,” along with a new policy stating that an active or inert ingredient will be considered new if it is nanoscale. But the size-based focus of that definition is different from the 2010 one used by the EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT), which says size alone does not determine whether or not a chemical is new, and therefore subject to review under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). [1]<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, one is not given the ability to choose which rules to follow.\u00a0 Typically, one can be cited for non-compliance for not following either of them, even though there are in conflict with each other.\u00a0 And, it is not possible to follow both of them.<\/p>\n
Consider the next case where a city government issues an ordinance that researchers are required to observe.<\/p>\n
The City of Berkeley, California passed an ordinance in December 2006 requiring information be provided on all nanomaterial that will be brought into the city. [2] However, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) do not exist for the majority of nanomaterials.\u00a0 So what to people do? They must comply with the regulations.\u00a0 So what are the options?\u00a0 CNTs have been classified as graphite (a form of carbon).\u00a0 Diamonds and coal dust are also forms of carbon.\u00a0 So does that mean that the MSDS for graphite can be employed for other forms of carbon?\u00a0 Of course not.\u00a0 But, what does a researcher do?\u00a0 There is no simple answer.<\/p>\n
If laws are passed requiring information that is not known, people will provide the best information available, which may not be accurate.\u00a0 We need to be able to address these issues, but there is not a systematic approach in place. This is the real problem.\u00a0 We do not have accurate information that can provide guidance in developing regulations and standards.\u00a0 This blog is more of raising awareness.\u00a0 Quick solutions are not available.<\/p>\n
On a different note, there have been some very interesting research papers that have come to my attention in the last few days.\u00a0 \u201cMIT and Harvard create new, lightsabber-like state of matter: Photonic Molecules.\u201d [3] Research done in vacuum and at very low temperatures has created \u201ctwo-photon\u201d molecules.\u00a0 These photons behave like a molecule.\u00a0 The reference link provides for some interesting reading.\u00a0 Another MIT paper [4] indicates researchers have found a new type of magnetism.\u00a0 The projection is that the \u201cquantum spin liquid\u201d could lead to new type so memory devices.\u00a0 As with any experimental results, these need to be verified by independent researchers.\u00a0 However, the concepts themselves are interesting.\u00a0 If the work can develop further, there could be some significant advances in devices.\u00a0 One thing that underlies these findings are the tools that permit the measurement of interactions in the nano realm.\u00a0 As the tools improve, more and more \u201cinteresting\u201d properties will be found.\u00a0 Which fact brings us back to the question, how can we appropriately regulate materials that we have no idea of their true nature?<\/p>\n
Regulations and MSDS Entering into the world of nanotechnology provides numerous surprises.\u00a0 In our last blog, we provided an overview of the four pillars of Nano-Safety.\u00a0 This week [..]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nanotechnology-risk-management"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions\/41"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.nano-blog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}